Press On — Have we peaked athletically?
Ever since I was a youngster I have been in awe of athletic records. I have always loved to watch the Olympic sports where the athlete can set a record by beating the clock or objectively outdoing all competitors. I”m not much for the subjectively judged sports.
I grew up in Wichita, Kansas and as an elementary school student I learned about fellow Kansan Glenn Cunningham. Cunningham”s legs were burned so badly in a schoolhouse fire that killed his older brother, that doctors almost amputated them. Fortunately, they were able to save his legs. Cunningham took up running to strengthen his weak and scarred legs. By the age of 12 he was outrunning all of the high school boys. He went on to compete in two Olympics and hold the world record in the mile run.
In athletic competition, Kansas has primarily been well known for two sports: basketball and running. At the end of my elementary school days and into what was then called junior high, another Kansan, this one from my hometown, was becoming famous as a runner. Jim Ryun made sports history as the first high school athlete to run a sub-four minute mile. His 1964 time of 3:59.0 set the high school record and stood for 36 years until Alan Webb, of Virginia, broke it in 2001.
I became a runner myself, but I was never good enough to break any records. When it comes to sports records, I was better in weight lifting. I set the high school dead lift record at my school and as far as I know it still stands. While I was in the Air Force in Texas I came very close to setting the state record for the dead lift in my weight class. I got the weight up, but I was red-lighted by two judges who said the bar stopped on the way up. The rule says the bar must not stop during the ascent of the weight. I guess I peaked. I never came close to breaking any records after that.
A recent story in the Los Angeles Times reported on a study by Frenchman Geoffrey Berthelot, a researcher at INSEP, a Paris institute for athletes that has an excellent reputation worldwide. Berthelot carefully analyzed 100 years worth of world records in a variety of sports competitions. After sifting through the records, he concluded that “the peak of athletic achievement was reached in 1988.” There were 11 new world records established that year in track and field. Today, seven of them still stand.
It does make sense that there would be a deceleration of records being broken at some point. While in theory it may be true that humans can continue to get stronger and faster, there definitely has to be a place where that progress becomes harder to achieve. And perhaps Berthelot is correct that 1988 was that year.
In my mind, though, the real peak may have come earlier than 1988. Anabolic steroid usage by athletes of all sports became prevalent during the 1970s, and, at first, testing for performance enhancing drugs was either very primitive or non-existent. That was one reason I never came close to breaking any more weight lifting records. I refused to use steroids.
Another factor that has always been an issue in continued athletic performance progress has been advancements in equipment. Just consider the changes in running shoes since Glenn Cunningham was competing during the 1930s.
According to Berthelot, “In swimming, performances stagnated in 47 percent of events after 1990, rising again around 2000 when new high-tech swimsuits proven to improve performance were introduced.”
During my weight lifting career I saw all kinds of poundage gains due to helpers like knee wraps, super-tight squat suits and bench press lifting shirts.
It”s clear that athletes, coaches and the public love to see new records set, no matter how they are achieved. Records are great, but I believe they are much more meaningful when attained through blood, sweat and tears on a level playing field, without the use of drugs and high-tech fabrics.
Gary Dickson is the editor and publisher of the Record-Bee. Call him at 263-5636, ext. 24. E-mail him at gdickson@record-bee.com.
